The Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) has revealed that La Liga players will strike for
the first two weekends of the season.

Players want a wage guarantee fund for when clubs become insolvent, an all-too frequent problem
in Spain, with Levante and Hercules struggling to pay staff members in recent years and Real
Zaragoza applying for administration this summer, which is a common occurrence particularly in the
Segunda Division.

The Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) has revealed that La Liga players will strike for
the first two weekends of the season.

Players want a wage guarantee fund for when clubs become insolvent, an all-too frequent problem
in Spain, with Levante and Hercules struggling to pay staff members in recent years and Real
Zaragoza applying for administration this summer, which is a common occurrence particularly in the
Segunda Division.

As a documented occurrence amongst many facets of western culture, the sophomore slump appears
to have nabbed its next victim: our own Portland Timbers. That's not to say that the players, FO
and coaching staff aren't responsible for this season, in fact they're the very cause of the these
second year woes.

Tonight's DC United and Montreal game saw an occurrence that is become more common in MLS â€“ both
teams coached by two long-time MLS players. For the home team, that coach is legendary player Ben
Olsen, who as a player ...

Michael Dawson has missed such a proportion of Spurs' games over the last two seasons that he is
in danger of becoming a forgotten man. Several people who have been asked to predict Tottenham's
central pairing for next season have mentioned Vertonghen (hopefully), King (occasionally) and the
likes of Caulker and Kaboul.

Our 2011/12 goals against of 49 was the worst defensive display we have experienced since we
conceded the same amount 1994/5, however 1994/5 was a 42 game season so in terms of goals against
per game 2011/12 was our worst ever in the EPL at 1.29 per game versus 1.17 in 1994/4.

To find a worse season one has to go back nearly 50 years to 1965/66 when we conceded 75 or
1.

Our 2011/12 goals against of 49 was the worst defensive display we have experienced since we
conceded the same amount 1994/5, however 1994/5 was a 42 game season so in terms of goals against
per game 2011/12 was our worst ever in the EPL at 1.29 per game versus 1.17 in 1994/4.

To find a worse season one has to go back nearly 50 years to 1965/66 when we conceded 75 or
1.

There has been some very bad news for football over the last week. The fact that Glasgow Rangers
have been put into administration, by the club's owner, is an indication of the sorry state the
Beautiful Game is in both financially and in terms of management.

This latest occurrence has come about as a result of Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
demanding up to Â£50 million in unpaid taxes and National Insurance contributions due on money paid
into Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs).

There may well not be any soccer clubs in the EPL currentlypetitioning to be placed in
administration, something that one of the twoOld Firm clubs in Scotland, Rangers, have been forced
into, but one thing is clear:the top flight of English soccer is not immune from financial
troubleand may end up falling victim to the financial climate sooner rather thanlater.

(c) 2010 Premier LeagueAccording to the BBC, when Chelsea played Birmingham City FC the afternoon
of November 20, 2010 at St.Andrews, they took 25 shots on Ben Foster's goal. Birmingham took only 1
â€“ yes one â€“ shot the entire match. The end result? Birmingham 1, Chelsea 0. One way to read
these results is to say Birmingham got lucky.

Being played out of position can be a real problem for some players, including Tottenham
Hotspurs' Rafael Van Der Vaart, who recently voiced out his disappointment of being continuously
placed in a wider positions in recent matches including the London derby against Arsenal.

The Dutchman confessed that he doesn't like being played in a wider position as he felt that his
best post is playing from the center.

This past Saturday's match between Milan and Juventus at the San Siro had been billed as the
decisive battle for the top spot on the Serie A table; however, the match ended in a 1-1 draw
thanks to goals from Antonio Nocerino in the 14th minute for Milan and from Alessandro Matri in the
83rd minute for Juventus.

Some things are just coincidental and some things are not, there is more to them, it is not just
luck that has led to a rather unlikely outcome or occurrence.Â Today Howard Webb referees yet
another big Manchester United game.Â Today Martin Atkinson does not referee yet another Manchester
United game.

Manager's moaning about referee's is nothing new, it has always gone and probably will always go
on. But Kenny Dalglish took things to another level by playing a DVD during his weekly press
conference to point out examples of where his club were hard done by against Fulham last
Monday.

The game, which the Red eventually lost 1-0, also landed Liverpool in trouble with the FA after
Luis Suarez was charge after giving the Fulham fans the finger, while the club was charged for
failing to control their players after they surrounded referee Kevin Friend following Jay
Spearing's dismissal.

OK, this happens every year and I'm not sure why the center referee was so uptight about it. So, of
the two adult leagues that I (and most of us in this area, actually) work with, the men's league
has all their games at one steady time, barring venue restrictions; the women's league does the
same, except their game start is 15 minutes later than the men's typical time - except 2/3 into the
season, they move all the games up 15 minutes to deal with earlier sunsets.

The overwhelming issue with FIFA is they suck. Tis the official diagnostic abstract, and
undoubtedly accepted by scholars and leading men alike Henry Kissinger too across the globe. In
fact, FIFA sucking any more would seem akin to Xavi misplacing a pass just impossible.

And yet, somehow they've found a means through which we can all hate them a little bit more:

In what has become a somewhat regular occurrence for professional and sudo-professional sports
clubs, the Richmond Kickers have released a new logo. The launch is part of the celebration of the
20-year history of the Kickers organization.

At first glance I couldn't help notice the "K" (for Kickers obviously) in the center of the new
logo looks as if it where made from pinball paddles.

There was no blood, no bruise, not even a bump. Not a sprain, no strain, no fracture and no
break. Yet the injury was scarier than the time I had managed to get a rusty fishing hook nearly
through my right thumb. Two weeks later, the symptoms have finally subsided, but the grim
possibilities of future problems remain.

This was arguably our easiest game of the CL group, so of course, everyone was just waiting for
us to slip up so they can go back to "Arsenal in crisis" mode. Yep, despite the fact that Man City
collapsed to a great Munich side, Man U had to labor to rescue a 3-3 draw in Arsenalesque fashion
against Basel, and Chelsea gave up a stupid equalizer against Valencia, all eyes were on us to
falter so the bloodhounds press hacks could get their self-righteous column templates up.

The Portland Timbers trained at Jeld-Wen Field on Monday in positive spirits two days removed
from their 0-0 draw in Philadelphia.

Futty Danso appeared to be at near full strength as he participated in the short field 8v8
two-touch scrimmage. Also participating in the scrimmage was John Spencer, which is reportedly a
regular occurrence at the practice after a match.